The White House has introduced a joint declaration with more than 40 countries that sets five principles for the export and use of armed unmanned aerial vehicles, Defense News reported Wednesday.Aaron Mehta writes that 43 countries have signed the joint statement that include the U.S., U.K., Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
Brian Nilsson, deputy assistant secretary for defense trade controls at the State Department, told Defense News that the declaration is based on a framework used for the Hague Code of Conduct, an international agreement that seeks to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles.
Nilsson said the declaration seeks to serve as a platform for signatories to convene in 2017 in order to set up an organization that would establish standards for the use and import of drones, according to a report by Anthony Capaccio for Bloomberg.
The report added that Russia, Israel and China are among the countries that have not signed the joint statement.
